Research on explosive welding of aluminum alloy to steel with dovetail grooves

In order to explore a new method for the explosive welding of aluminum alloy to steel, a 5083 aluminum alloy plate and a Q345 steel plate with dovetail grooves were respectively employed as the flyer and base plates. The parameters adopted in the explosive welding experiment were close to the lower limit of weldable window of 5083 aluminum alloy to Q345 steel. The bonding properties of 5083/Q345 clad plate were studied through mechanical performance tests and microstructure observations. The results showed that the aluminum alloy and steel plates were welded under the actions of metallurgical bonding and meshing of dovetail grooves. The tensile shear strength of 5083/Q345 clad plate met the requirements of the bonding strength of Al/Fe clad plate. The interfaces between aluminum alloy and the upper and lower surfaces of dovetail grooves were mainly welded through direct bonding, and discontinuous molten zone emerged in the local region; while the interface between aluminum alloy and the inclined surface of dovetail grooves was bonded by continuous molten layer. The brittle intermetallic compounds FeAl₂ and Al₅Fe₂ were generated at the bonding interfaces of 5083/Q345 clad plate. The fracture surface of the tensile specimen exhibited ductile and quasi-cleavage fractures.     

铝合金板材热塑性变形行为研究

为了研究铝合金板材的热塑性变形行为,进行了热态胀形试验,获取了不同温度及压力率下的胀形压力-高度曲线,分析了压力率对胀形高度的影响规律.基于同一压力率、不同温度下胀形压力与等效应变之间的关系,提出胀形压力关于等效应变及压力率的拟合方程,同时获得压力率和应变率之间的函数关系.试验结果表明,板材充液热成形工艺过程中,压力率对金属材料的变形行为影响显著,同时压力率能够表征材料成形过程中的变形快慢.     

Effect of pin offset on the mechanical properties of friction stir welded AA 6013 aluminum alloy plates

In this study, AA 6013 aluminum plates were butt‐welded with friction stir welding via pin offset technique. Macrostructural observations revealed that kissing bonds, originated from the broken oxide layers, were found to occur in the welded joints. The fracture location of welded joints after tensile tests was found to be outside the joint area, revealing that kissing bonds which were formed in the stir zone exhibited no detrimental effect on the mechanical properties of joints. Microstructural observations revealed that phases belonging to Mg₂Si, Al₄Cu₂Mg₈Si₇ and Al(MnFe)Si were observed in the x‐ray diffraction pattern of friction stir welded joints. The highest tensile strength with a value of 206 MPa was achieved with the process parameters of 1.5 mm pin offset towards the advancing side and 500 min^?1 tool rotational speed, leading the ratio of tensile strength of joint to ultimate tensile strength of base metal, also known as joint efficiency, to reach 74 %.     

不锈钢/钢复合管水压爆炸焊接制造的数值模拟

为研究水压爆炸焊接法制造不锈钢/钢复合管的焊接效果及炸药与复合管之间水层厚度对焊接的影响,对传统内爆法制备双金属复合管的工艺安装进行了优化,并利用有限元软件ANSYS/LS-DYNA建立了不锈钢/钢复合管水压爆炸焊接制造的二维有限元模型,对其焊接过程及变形情况进行了数值模拟研究.在模拟过程中得到复管与基管碰撞结合面节点的速度曲线和结合界面的压力曲线.结果表明:炸药与复管之间水层厚为1.5 cm时,模拟焊接过程中得到复管的最大飞行速度约453 m/s,基复管结合界面的压力约9.46 GPa,均满足爆炸焊接窗口理论计算值的下限要求,可以实现焊接;复管的最大飞行速度随水层厚度增加而减小,复管与基管有效焊接时间随水层厚度增加而增加;炸药与复管之间增加水层能有效地防止基、复管的大变形.水压爆炸焊接法为薄厚度、变形差等特殊材质双金属管的制造提供了一个重要的借鉴与参考.     

Effect of heat treatment on the behavior of an AA7055 aluminum alloy during ballistic impact

Effect of heat treatment on mechanical properties and ballistic resistance of AA 7055 aluminum alloy plates has been studied. Large differences in the static mechanical properties are observed in the plates subjected to three different heat treatment schedules namely under-aging, peak aging and over-aging. The peak-aged plate shows the maximum strength and hardness followed by the under-aged and over-aged plates. The ballistic resistance of these heat treated plates of thicknesses 5 and 10 mm are evaluated by impacting deformable projectiles at a velocity of 820 ± 10 m/s and at a normal angle of attack, by using a thick backing technique. The under-aged and peak-aged materials exhibit similar ballistic penetration resistances which are superior to the over-aged material. Metallographic examination of the impacted plates shows formation of adiabatic shear band (ASB) induced cracks and few transformed ASBs. Peak-aged 7055 aluminum alloy plate shows much improved ballistic properties compared to commercially available 7017 aluminum alloy plate in terms of the depth of penetration.     

Effect of explosive characteristics on the explosive welding of stainless steel to carbon steel in cylindrical configuration

The aim of this research is to study the influence of explosive characteristics on the weld interfaces of stainless steel AISI 304L to low alloy steel 51CrV4 in a cylindrical configuration. The effect of ammonium nitrate-based emulsion, sensitized with different quantities and types of sensitizing agents (hollow glass microballoons or expanded polystyrene spheres) and Ammonium Nitrate Fuel Oil (ANFO) explosives on the interface characteristics is analyzed. Research showed that the type of explosive and the type and proportion of explosive sensitizers affect the main welding parameters, particularly collision point velocity. The morphology of the wavy weld interfaces, chiefly the amplitude and length of the waves, is affected both by the impact velocity and the type and particle size of the explosive sensitizers, and increases with particle size. All the weld interfaces, except welds done with ANFO, displayed localized melted and solidified regions, whose chemical composition resulted from the contribution of both flyer and base metal.     

Effect of friction stir welding on the microstructure and mechanical properties of AA 6063-T6 aluminum alloy

In this study, AA 6063-T6 alloy plates were joined via friction stir welding using three different pin geometries (i. e., helical threaded, pentagonal and triangular) under various process parameters of tool rotational speed and welding speed. The microstructures and mechanical properties of the various welded joints were investigated. Macro-structural observations revealed that kissing bonds occurred in the welded joints due to fractured oxide layers. X-ray diffraction analysis indicated that the stir zones of the welded joints exhibited phases of Al₈Fe₂Si, Al₅FeSi, and Mg₂Si. In the welded joints, processed using a helical threaded pin, no tunnel-type defect was detected to occur; specimens were fractured outside of the joint region during tensile tests, indicating that the kissing bonds formed in the stir zones did not cause any deterioration in tensile strength or ductility. The welded joints processed using a helical threaded, pentagonal and triangular pin at 500 min⁻¹ tool rotational speed and 80 mm min⁻¹ welding speed exhibited a ductile deformation behavior along with a tensile strength in the range of 153 MPa to 155 MPa.     

Examination of copper/stainless steel joints formed by explosive welding

In this study, bonding ability of copper and steel with explosion welding was investigated using different ratios of explosive and different stand-off distance. Experimental studies showed out that, copper and stainless steel could be bonded with a good quality of bonding properties with explosion welding. In the bonding interface, intermetallics were not formed. It was observed that, when explosive ratio and stand-off distance were increased smooth bonding interface was transformed to a wavy bonding interface. As the ratio of explosive and stand-off distance increase, the amplitude and wavelength of wave were increased. It was found that, hardness of bonding interface and outer face of plates were increased because of deformation that was originating from impact the effect. Total interface area increased as a result of wavy interface, which was caused by increased explosive ratio and stand-off distance. In addition, wavy interfaces did not separate after tensile-shearing test. Bending tests applied on bonded samples had different diameters indicated that interfaces of the bonded samples have not any defect. EDS analyses in SEM showed that diffusion did not take place between bonding plates, however, diffusion was observed after annealing of the bonded samples for different times.     

Fatigue behavior of AA7075-T6 aluminum alloy coated with ZrN by PVD

The present investigation has been conducted in order to study the effect of the deposition of a ZrN coating, of 3 μm in thickness, on the static mechanical properties and fatigue behavior of a 7075-T6 aluminum alloy substrate. It has been determined that the coating deposition process gives rise to a significant decrease in such properties, which is not fully compensated for the presence of the film. When fatigue tests were carried out in a 3 wt.% NaCl solution at low alternating stresses, the ZrN film partially compensated for the decrease in fatigue properties of the coated substrate. Extensive delamination of the coating from the substrate was observed under the action of cyclic stresses greater than approximately 220 MPa. Below this stress and in the presence of NaCl, the behavior of the coated material approached that of the uncoated alloy, which highlighted the good corrosion resistance of the ZrN coating and its ability to protect the substrate when it remained adhered to the latter.     

Effect of welding parameters on microstructure and mechanical properties of friction stir welded joints of AA7039 aluminum alloy

A high strength Al–Zn–Mg alloy AA7039 was friction stir welded by varying welding and rotary speed of the tool in order to investigate the effect of varying welding parameters on microstructure and mechanical properties. The friction stir welding (FSW) process parameters have great influence on heat input per unit length of weld, hence on temperature profile which in turn governs the microstructure and mechanical properties of welded joints. There exits an optimum combination of welding and rotary speed to produce a sound and defect free joint with microstructure that yields maximum mechanical properties. The mechanical properties increase with decreasing welding speed/ increasing rotary speed i.e. with increasing heat input per unit length of welded joint. The high heat input joints fractured from heat affected zone (HAZ) adjacent to thermo-mechanically affected zone (TMAZ) on advancing side while low heat input joints fractured from weld nugget along zigzag line on advancing side.     

Effect of sensitization heat treatment on properties of Al–Mg alloy AA5083-H116

Al–Mg alloy AA5083 is a sheet and plate alloy used mainly for marine application as well as for structural components in transportation and military applications. The strength is derived from solid solution strengthening and strain hardening. The properties of as-received and sensitized samples of AA5083-H116 were investigated using microhardness measurements, tensile testing, optical microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), and Nitric Acid Mass Loss Test (NAMLT). The results show that both chemical and mechanical properties of the alloy decreased with increasing sensitization temperature and time. The deterioration in chemical property, which was measured in terms of the level of susceptibility to Intergranular Corrosion (IGC), is attributed to grain boundary precipitation of magnesium-rich particles. The loss in tensile and hardness properties is attributed to softening caused partly by decrease in Mg solute solid solution concentration with increasing sensitization time and temperature and partly by recrystallization at elevated temperatures.     

Effect of interlayer addition on microstructure and mechanical properties of NiTi/stainless steel joint by electron beam welding

NiTi/Stainless Steel(SS) sheets have been welded via a vacuum electron beam welding process, with three methods(offsetting electron beam to SS side without interlayer, adding Ni interlayer and adding Fe Ni interlayer), to promote mechanical properties of the Ni Ti/SS joints. The joints with different interlayers are all fractured in the weld zone near the Ni Ti side, which is attributed to the enrichment of intermetallic compounds including Fe2 Ti and Ni3 Ti. The fracture mechanisms of different joints are strongly dependent on the types of interlayers, and the joints without interlayer, adding Ni interlayer and adding Fe Ni interlayer exhibit cleavage fracture, intergranular fracture and mixed fracture composed of cleavage and tearing ridge, respectively. Compared with the brittle laves phase Fe2 Ti, Ni3 Ti phase can exhibit certain plasticity, block the crack propagation and change the direction of crack propagation. The composite structure of Ni3 Ti and Fe2 Ti will be formed when the Fe Ni alloy is taken as the interlayer, which provides the joint excellent mechanical properties, with rupture strength of 343 MPa.     

Effect of friction stir welding process parameters on the tensile strength of dissimilar aluminum alloy AA2024-T3 and AA7075-T6 joints

This work investigates the influence of friction stir welding parameters on the mechanical properties of the dissimilar joint between AA2024-T3 and AA7075-T6. Experiments are conducted consistent with the three-level face-centered composite design. Response surface methodology is used to develop the regression model for predicting the tensile strength of the joints. The analysis of variance technique is used to access the adequacy of the developed model. The model is used to study the effect of key operating process parameters namely, tool rotation speed, welding speed and shoulder diameter on the tensile strength of the joints. The results indicate that friction stir welding of aluminum alloys at a tool rotation speed of 1050 min⁻¹, welding speed of 40 mm/min and a shoulder diameter of 17.5 mm would produce defect less joint with high tensile strength.     

Corrosion behavior of aluminum 6061 alloy joined by friction stir welding and gas tungsten arc welding methods

Wrought aluminum sheets with thickness of 13 mm were square butt-welded by friction stir welding (FSW) and gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) methods. Corrosion behavior of the welding zone was probed by Tafel polarization curve. Optical metallography (OM) and scanning electron microscopy together with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) were used to determine morphology and semi-quantitative analysis of the welded zone. FSW resulted in equiaxed grains of about 1–2 μm, while GTAW caused dendritic structure of the welded region. Resistance to corrosion was greater for the FSW grains than the GTAW structure. In both cases, susceptibility to corrosion attack was greater in the welded region than the base metal section. T6 heat treatment resulted in shifting of the corrosion potential towards bigger positive values. This effect was stronger in the welded regions than the base metal section.     

Hybrid laser/arc welding of advanced high strength steel to aluminum alloy by using structural transition insert

The present investigation is related to the development of the welding procedure of the hybrid laser/arc welding (HLAW) in joining thick dissimilar materials. The HLAW was applied to join aluminum alloy (AA6061) to an advanced high strength steel (AHSS) where an explosively welded transition joint, TRICLAD®, was used as an intermediate structural insert between the thick plates of the aluminum alloy and AHSS. The welds were characterized by an optical microscope, scanning electron microscope (SEM), tensile test, charged coupled device (CCD) camera, and microhardness measurement. The groove angle was optimized for the welding process based on the allowed amount of heat input along the TRICLAD® interface generated by an explosive welding. The weld was fractured in the heat affected zone of the aluminum side in the tensile test. The microhardness was shown that the temperature variation caused minor softening in the heat affected zone satisfying the requirement that the width of the softened heat affected zone in the steel side falls within 15.9 mm far away from the weld centerline. The microstructure analysis showed the presence of tempered martensite at the vicinity of the weld area, which it was a cause of softening in the heat affected zone.     

Effect of projectile nose shape,impact velocity and target thickness on the deformation behavior of layered plates

The present study is based on the experimental and numerical investigations of deformation behavior of layered aluminum plates of different thicknesses under the impact of flat, ogive and hemispherical nosed steel projectiles. Thin-layered plates arranged in various combinations were normally impacted at different velocities with the help of a pneumatic gun. Ballistic limit velocity and the residual velocity of the projectiles for each layered combination were obtained experimentally as well as from the finite element code, and these were compared with those of the single plates of equivalent thicknesses. For two layers, the residual velocity was comparable to that of the single plate, however, when the number of layers was increased the velocity drop was found to be higher in the case of the single plate. Ogive nosed projectile was found to be the most efficient penetrator of the layered target. Hemispherical nosed projectile required maximum energy for perforation. Deformation profiles of the target plates in the layered combinations were measured, and it was found that hemispherical nosed projectile caused highest plastic deformation of target plates. Numerical simulation of the problem was carried out using finite element code ABAQUS. Explicit solution technique of the code was used to analyze the perforation phenomenon. Results of the finite element analysis were compared with experiments and a good agreement between the two was found.     

Effect of gradient thermal distribution on butt joining of magnesium alloy to steel with Cu–Zn alloy interlayer by hybrid laser–tungsten inert gas welding

Experimental investigations on butt welding of magnesium alloy to steel by hybrid laser–tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding with Cu–Zn alloy interlayer are carried out. The results show that the gradient thermal distribution of hybrid laser–TIG welding, controlled by offset adjustment, has a noticeable effect on mechanical properties and microstructure of the joints. Particularly, at the offset of 0.2 mm, defect-free joints are obtained, and the tensile strength could attain a maximum value of 203 MPa. Moreover, the fracture of the joint with the 0.2 mm offset happens in the weld seam of Mg alloy instead of the Mg/Fe interface. Owning to the addition of the Cu–Zn alloy interlayer, a metallurgical bonding between Mg alloy and steel is achieved based on the formation of intermetallic compounds of CuMgZn and solid solutions of Cu and Al in Fe. Meanwhile, the same element distribution tendency of Fe and Al indicates the intimate interaction between Fe and Al in current experimental conditions.     

Effect of inverted pressurisation profile on deformation characteristics of 5083 aluminium alloy during superplastic forming

Abstract

Decreasing the cycle time for superplastic forming of a commercially available superplastic 5083 aluminium alloy has been studied in the present work by use of an inverted pressurisation profile. A right cylindrical cup with a depth/ diameter ratio of 0·5 could be superplastically gas pressure formed in less than 100 s. The deformation behaviour was similar to that of constant strain forming during the free bulging stage. In this stage, a stress state gradient from the pole to the edge of the formed dome was observed. Plasticity controlled growth of cavities was thought to be the mechanism for the increase of cavity volume fraction during forming. After the centre point of the deformed sheet touched the die surface, the metal flow pattern was found to be different from that of the traditional approach. The minimum thickness was not located at around the bottom corner of the cylindrical cup rather it was located ~ 7.5 mm away from the bottom centre of the cup with radius 20 mm. Significant cavity nucleation and coalescence caused higher cavity growth rates at large strains, owing to the continuous increase in strain rate resulting from the imposed pressurisation profile.     

Interfacial characterization of joint between mild steel and aluminum alloy welded by resistance spot welding

The interfacial characteristics of resistance spot welded steel–aluminum alloy joint have been investigated using electron microscopy. The results reveal that reaction product FeAl₃ is generated in the peripheral region of the weld while a reaction layer consisting of Fe₂Al₅ adjacent to steel and FeAl₃ adjacent to aluminum alloy forms in the central region of the weld, and that the morphology and thickness of the reaction layer vary with the position at the welding interface.